Our neighborhood has gone to hell in a hand bag. California has a law called section 8 which allows under privileged families to move out of the major cities and into the suburbs into nice family homes. The government pays their bills and whatever money is left over they get to spend. Needless to say many families have kids who are wannabe thugs. Crime in our once beautiful town has sky rocketed.

Already caught 2 kids scoping out my car on my driveway attempting to break into it. While I could have easily man handled them I instead chose to sneak up on them and offer them a hand. They ran like hell, one even fell over some bushes while running off.

We are thinking of getting a dog most likely a German Shepherd Dog but I wouldn't mind a Rottweiler. They would make great watch and guard dogs but I am not sure were I can get the proper personal protection training in my area.

Also I want to get my parents and even myself a Taser gun with dry stun feature. Taser's aren't classified as fire arms which is all good since I am afraid of guns.

I am also looking into those wireless cameras that you can connect to your pc and laptops. They have tons of features you can be anywhere in the world just go online and check out your property. They come with night vision and send snap shots to your e-mail account when they detect movements. They now store memory on your hard drives or they have flash mini drives on them as alternate storage.

We live in an apartment building, really good locks on the outside access doors. Nobody has succeeded in breaking in during the 16 years we've been there, although the underground parking was broken into a few times several years ago (once by someone driving right through the gate). They couldn't get from the parking area into the building, though. There's also "block watch" in the area, which means that households where people are home most of the day look out for unusual activities (they call police if they see anything), and put a special sign in their windows so that any kids in trouble can knock at their doors and find help immediately. Our building is full of seniors, so neighbours watch out for them and check on them. So far, so good.

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God grant me a good sword and no use for it. -- Polish proverb

Having a dog is an excellent idea. Small dogs are generally nervous and bark at any noise they hear. This can act like a house alarm to alert you to something new going on. A big dog is intimidating and their bark will scare most prowlers away unless they are on drugs then all bets are off.

I also have some alarms attached to my doors and windows to alert us of pending danger as well.

Having the outside well lit is also a good deterrent. Why would they want to risk being seen at your place when the guy next door has all his lights off?

If those things fail and they still choose to enter my residence I have a firearm. A 12guage makes an excellent home defense weapon. It has one shot stopping power and multiple shots in case there is more than one goblin in my house. I certainly don't want to shoot someone, but I have kids and won't have time to figure out someone's intentions if they are in there uninvited.

Tek,

Don't be afraid of guns bud, they are just inanimate objects and can not just go off by themselves. Get some qualified training and start with a .22 and work your way up from there. You will find it fun and rewarding and wonder why you missed out on it all these years.

If you guys are ever in my neck of the woods a range trip is on me.

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The2nd ammendment, it makes all the others possible. <///<

I think pets are a good idea for families anyway. I grew up with a collie-labrador mix who was really great with all of us kids but very protective regarding strangers. She would play softball with us and also keep watch.

But many of the cats are also very territorial. My aunt had a pair of cats that alerted her to a prowler by hissing at him through the window, and they scared him away.

Now that I live in an urban apartment, I chose one that is in a more private location in the building, and definitely not on the first floor. I also keep all of my japanese weapons in the bedroom. But even though my neighborhood has gone through some good and bad times, no one has ever bothered me. Maybe they know not to!